A Pure Heart
by Ariza Luca
Summary: (REWRITE!) Sometimes, it's not enough to stay pure in this world. Sometimes, the world will test you to see how you hold up. Hikari Tsukino is Lloyd's seven-year-old best friend whose heart is as pure as silver. But she might not stay that way for long. Not with her returning past, and not with what's ahead in her future. Let's see how fate can change a pure heart.
1. Light and Prophecy

Hikari clung tightly to Lloyd's hand, being careful to stick much closer to Lloyd than most girls her age would. Most seven-year-old girls would think that boys were gross or icky and make sure to keep away from the boys as far as possible, but not Hikari.

No, she was clinging to his hand and sticking so close to him that their sides were bumping into each other a little. The reason was because she was so absolutely tiny that without the one-head taller boy next to her, she'd get lost or trampled by the surrounding crowd of people in Jamanakai Village very easily.

Hikari could see several people glancing at her. Understandably; even without Lloyd she got quite a few looks. Hikari had been compared to a porcelain doll before, with pale skin and shiny black hair and looking thin and fragile, especially for a seven year old. Her eyes were big and a lovely shade of gray- some people had described it as silvery. She rather liked looking at herself sometimes. It was interesting to peek into a mirror and see how she'd changed from only a few months ago- her hair was longer, her skin no longer looked like a sheet of paper, her eyes had lost that slightly glassy look... she looked healthy.

Now if only she wasn't so short...

Suddenly, Hikari realized that Lloyd's hand, which had been cradled in hers for the past twenty minutes, was suddenly gone. She looked around in confusion, actually turning around in a little circle on the spot to search for him. "Lloyd?" she called out, more confused than afraid. He was only a seven year old boy, he couldn't have gone that far...

Screams and yells of fright started ringing out, and adults began to run in the other direction. One woman actually ran straight into Hikari, knocking the much-smaller girl to the floor with a yelp of surprise. "Ah!" she squeaked out, cold from the cobblestoned streets seeping through her sweater from where she was now lying on the ground. Now more and more people were running away from something, meaning that they were running towards Hikari, meaning-

Oh.

Hikari let out a terrified squeak as a storm of feet descended upon her, trampling and stomping and storming in an effort to get past her. She hastily curled up into a tight ball to avoid getting stomped on, but a flurry of shoes still battered into her sides, knocking her little ball around in a huge mess-

"Whoa, whoa!" Someone grabbed her wrist and towed her out of the crowd, cold still seeping through Hikari's clothing but no longer quite as acute as when she'd been getting knocked around. She looked up to see a young man with brown hair that stuck up in spikes all over the place, the telltale gleam of hair gel indicating that it wasn't a natural hairstyle. His amber eyes were slightly wide, and a scar ran through his eyes and through one of his eyebrows, giving him a 'tough-guy' sort of look.

Hikari's big, gray eyes blinked. He looked... familiar somehow?

"Are you okay, kid?" the young man asked, looking her up and down with a slightly alarmed expression.

Before Hikari could even think of an answer, three more young men ran up behind him. One had unnaturally pale skin and hair, his icy blue eyes looking like tiny ice chips that had been placed in his face; another one had a shock of ginger-brown hair and a scar through his _other_ eyebrow (comparing it to the amber-eyed man in front of her) and electric-blue eyes that gave him a permanently surprised look, and the last one had slightly wavy black hair, _very_ bushy black eyebrows, and a face that seemed to be set in a permanent scowl.

"Kai!" the one with the ginger hair exclaimed, looking a little annoyed, "you can't just run- oh, who's this?" His eyes moved from the red guy- the amber-eyed man was wearing clothing that looked a bit like red footie pajamas, except looking considerably deadlier with all the weapons strapped to it- to Hikari. His expression changed from irritated to curious.

Hikari gave a little wave as Kai looked up from Hikari to look at the other three. Now that Hikari was paying more attention, the one with icy blue eyes was wearing a similar outfit to Kai's, except it was snow-white, the one with bushy eyebrows wore black, and the one with ginger hair wore a deep blue. With the similar outfits, they looked like a team...

... were they like those magical girls in Sailor Moon or something?

"She was caught in the crowd and getting trampled," Kai answered the blue guy's question. "I couldn't just leave her to get stomped on, Jay."

Hikari almost giggled at the name. With the blue guy's- Jay's- blue outfit, the first thing that came to mind when she looked at him and heard his name was blue jay. Like the bird.

"Oh. I guess that's a good reason." Jay leaned down and waggled his fingers at Hikari cheerfully, giving her a friendly grin. "Hey, kiddo. What's your name?"

And okay, Hikari had definitely heard the 'don't talk to strangers' philosophy before, but she'd talked to Lloyd way back when, and look how that had turned out. Besides, the red guy had saved her from getting trampled on, and these three appeared to be friends with the red guy- maybe even in a team. It was only fair.

"I'm Hikari," she said cheerfully.

The guy in white tilted his head immediately. "'Hikari'. That means... 'light', in Japanese, does it not?" he asked her, in a voice that was surprisingly pleasant and warm despite his icy appearance. He was therefore rewarded with a nod from Hikari.

The guy in black glanced over at the guy in white, raising one eyebrow with a both curious and amused look. "Why do you know that, Zane?" he asked, more curiously than anything else.

'Zane', apparently, simply shrugged. "I... don't know. I just do."

The man in black leaned down a bit, getting down on a more eye-level, uh, level with Hikari. Hikari just blinked at him. Now that she was up close with him, she could see that his eyes weren't black, like she'd initially thought- they were a very dark, chocolatey brown. "Hi. I'm Cole. Where are your parents, kid?" he asked- not rudely, but not exactly kindly, either.

"I'm not here with my parents. I'm here with my friend." And it was speaking _those_ words that reminded Hikari exactly why she'd been caught in the middle of the crowd in the first place. "I don't know where he went, though..."

The four men exchanged looks with one another, to Hikari's slight confusion. "I guess we're going to have to watch her until we can find her friend- it's dangerous for a little kid to be alone with Lord Garmadon on the loose."

Hikari blinked.

That was the first she'd heard of that... and she wasn't sure if the little kid was referring to her size, or her age. If it was the second option, she wasn't _that_ young! She was seven years old! That was so much older than being a six year old.

"Have you seen my friend?" she decided to ask. Worst thing they could do was say that they hadn't seen him.

Or kidnap her, but they didn't seem like that sort of people, so she figured she was okay.

"He has pale blonde hair," Hikari persisted when she saw they were paying attention now, "- although I guess you can't see that right now since he's got his hood up, and he's got green eyes, and he's seven years old like me-" If Hikari hadn't been so anxious to find Lloyd, she would've been appalled at her own terrible grammar, but she was more worried about finding him than anything else right now, "and he's wearing a black hoodie, and his name is-"

"It is I! Lloyd Garmadon!" It was as if she'd conjured him somehow by saying his name.

"Oh, that's him!" Hikari immediately turned around and started running for his voice, not noticing the startled expression on Kai's face.

"Hey, kid, get back here!"

Hikari ran towards the town center- which had a fountain- to find Lloyd standing up on the fountain and waving his can of snakes trick he usually carried around with him. "Lloyd!" she called out.

Lloyd looked down from where he was on the fountain, and immediately his mischievous grin was replaced with a relieved one, green eyes with the red coloring in the center lighting up with relief and happiness. "Hikari! There you are, I thought I'd lost you! Where did you go? I started moving off and you weren't with me."

Hikari returned the relieved smile. "I didn't realize you'd started moving off. You should've told me!" and she pouted a little at him, crossing her arms.

Angry mutters started filling the air, and Hikari blinked and looked around to see the adults emerging from their houses, scowling at Lloyd for some reason. She blinked, before looking up at Lloyd blankly. "Why are they angry?" she whispered up to him, keeping her voice low.

Lloyd paused to think about this for a second, green eyes growing glassy as he quickly considered this thought. "I don't know," he whispered back, before raising his voice again, the mischievous tone returning to his voice. "Give me all your candy, or I'll release the Serpentine on you!" he shouted, raising his 'can of snakes' prank and waving it around.

In response, the villagers started throwing vegetables at him.

Hikari had to disguise her uncontrollable giggling as light coughing.

A moment later, she was distracted and managed to stop giggling as the four taller guys who'd helped her earlier elbowed their way through the crowd to reach Lloyd. Kai picked Lloyd up with seemingly no trouble and started walking away again, Cole saying to the crowd, "Uh, nothing to see here, folks!"

Hikari had to give chase and run after them to keep up with Lloyd, who was flailing and squirming in Kai's grip. "What do you think we should do with him? Spank him?" Kai asked nonchalantly.

Zane frowned at Kai. Or, at least, from what Hikari could see of his icy blue eyes, he did. "Kai, that was a rather immature suggestion and we are not spanking a small child, regardless of his behavior," he scolded, gently. Though Hikari didn't know why he called Lloyd a 'small child'. Lloyd was a good half-head or maybe even a full head taller than she was, and he was seven too. They were both way more mature than six-year-olds!

"Whose side are you on, Zane? His or ours?" Jay joked. Hikari could practically hear the smile in his voice, even though his face was covered by the mask and all Hikari could see where those electric-blue eyes.

"I am merely stating my opinion, Jay," Zane replied firmly, apparently having not heard the joking tone in Jay's voice.

"Yeah, well, he can't just go terrorizing people and make them think that Lord Garmadon's back. Besides, it's just a kid, it won't hurt if we do something just this once— enough to let him get the point," Cole said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"We could give him a wedgie," Kai mused. "How about that for an idea, Cole?"

Thankfully, they finally came to a halt, and Hikari was able to run up to Kai and grab ahold of the arm that was keeping Lloyd in the air. "Hey! Put him down please!" she puffed out, pulling as hard as she could on Kai's arm. Unsurprisingly, she didn't even budge it half an inch.

Lloyd blinked at Hikari, all of the ninja turning to see Hikari doing her best to pull Lloyd back to the ground and not doing a very good job of it. Although she was keeping her grip on Kai's arm, even as he slowly lifted it even more and pulled the little girl above the ground, her toes dangling several inches above the ground.

She really was tiny.

"Why are you friends with this kid?" Jay asked, pulling his hood off and giving Hikari a rather odd smile— actually, it might've been a bit of a smirk— as he tilted his head at her, "he's the evil son of Lord Garmadon for the First Spinjitzu Master's sake!"

Hikari had to pause and process the weird statement he'd just made (who was the First Spinjitzu Master?) before shaking it off and releasing Kai's arm, dropping her back to the ground as she thought about it. Her silvery eyes clouded over as she considered the comment Jay had just made, before they cleared up as her thoughts coalesced into a proper explanation.

"Because... because when I first met him, I'd been alone for a long time. My mommy and daddy..." Hikari paused. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened— just that she'd woken up in the basement without her parents and they hadn't come back to get her for some reason. ""Well, they weren't there for some reason. But then I left the house, and he was the first person I met, and he let me follow him. And he took care of me, and he didn't let me get lost. He was like... he was like the nightlight in my room. Whenever I felt sad or lonely, he would always be here. So, where he goes, I will follow. Even if he joins the dark side," Hikari said simply, looking at Lloyd, who was staring at her as if she'd sprouted a second head. "Because when I look at him, I don't see the darkness. I see the light."

Jay's smirk had faded and he was now sniffling a bit, surreptitiously trying to hide the fact he was touched. Cole's expression, rock-hard and a little stern, had softened a bit, and it looked as though he were hiding a smile. Zane was smiling openly, not even bothering to try to hide it. Kai's face was mostly hidden by his mask, but Hikari could've sworn she could see a smile in his eyes even as he started speaking again.

"Well... that might be the case, but we still have to punish him." And before Hikari could do anything, he was hanging Lloyd up on a nearby signpost, although the sign wasn't too high up and Hikari could just tug him back down. Which was nice of him because she was absolutely petrified of heights.

The ninja all proceeded to walk away, while Hikari ran over to Lloyd and hopped up and down, trying to unhook his pants (yeah, _that's_ what they'd hung him up by) with limited success. After three mistimed grabs during her jump and one instance of tripping backwards and landing in a huge snowbank, Hikari managed to grab ahold of the area they'd hung him up by, although now she was basically hanging a foot or two off the ground and about to fall off.

With a few good tugs, his pants finally came loose, and the two of them tumbled off into the snowbank Hikari had fallen in earlier, sending up a little fountain of snow as they both yelped in surprise.

A moment later, Hikari popped her head out of the snow, Lloyd following suit and brushing snow out of his hood. Hikari had a good amount of snow in her hair, and was working on just dashing it out as she looked over at Lloyd— before giggling, because Lloyd had snow on his nose. "You look funny," she told him, reaching over and brushing it off his face. A blush came over his face, although because of the way the hoodie caused shadows over his face she couldn't see it.

"Thanks, Hikari," he told her, digging himself out of the snowbank and floundering through the waves of snow as she chirped back a cheerful "no problem". He had to wonder how there was a snowbank this big right here. When he finally unearthed himself, he reached down and pulled Hikari out as well, once again wondering at how light she was. She ate more than she'd used to nowadays, but still. She was a lightweight.

"Thanks, Lloyd," she parroted back to him politely, taking ahold of his hand again. He gave her a little smile, before checking over his shoulder and starting to make his way towards the mountains. He had the feeling he wasn't going to be welcome in the village after that fiasco, and while he didn't particularly care about getting chased out of town he'd rather not have Hikari go through the same thing just because she was with him.

* * *

Kai finally allowed himself to grin as he took off his hood, allowing his spiky hair to spring back to normal, walking back to the dragons. Even though she and Lloyd seemed to be good friends, it was kind of obvious that Hikari kind of loved Lloyd a bit, although she didn't seem aware of it herself. It also might've only just been platonic— it was kind of hard to tell.

Since he wasn't paying attention, as he moved to climb onto Flame, his foot bumped into something and knocked it off of the dragon. Blinking himself out of his thoughts, he looked down to see a scroll shake out of the leather satchel that he'd just knocked to the ground. His eyebrow went up, the scar on his face stretching a little bit along with his face. "I didn't pack this," he mumbled, sounding slightly confused.

Cole looked at what Kai was picking up off the ground, blinking in surprise himself. "Oh, that's Sensei's bag— you must've taken it in the confusion earlier." Kai grinned absentmindedly as he opened the scroll, vaguely allowing the chaos of the morning to come back to him. Running back and forth, unable to grab the reins, Jay trying to jump right onto Wisp but jumping over and faceplanting, and pizza flying off to the side.

Looking back at the scroll, a frown came over his face at the sight of some pictures and a lot of weird written gobbledygook. It could've been Sanskrit and he wouldn't have understood it. "What are all these weird letters?"

Zane came to have a look as well, shaking his head as he took the scroll from Kai gently. "Those are not 'weird letters'— this was the writing of our ancestors," he said thoughtfully.

Kai raised both of his eyebrows this time, amber eyes looking at Zane. "Can you read it?" he asked, slightly expectantly. Zane might be a little weird, but whenever it came to this type of thing, he was definitely the expert.

"I think so..." Zane rubbed his chin, before tapping the paper. "This symbol is 'prophecy'."

Jay cocked his head to the side slightly, looking slightly bewildered. "Uhh... prophecy?"

Kai rolled his eyes. Seriously, sometimes Jay was too much like a kid. He was willing to bet that even Hikari knew what it meant, and she looked like she was hardly six. "It means something that tells the future, bonehead," he shot back.

Jay rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish chuckle. "Oh, um, yeah! I... knew that," he lied.

Zane squinted at the paper, slowly reading it aloud. "Two ninjas... will rise above the others... and become the green and purple ninja. These ninja are to defeat the Dark Lord..."

"That must be Garmadon!" Cole interrupted.

"... and bring peace to Ninjago. But the purple ninja... is at a bigger risk of being corrupted... because..." Zane frowned, leaning back a bit and blinking uncertainly at the paper, pausing in his interpreting of the scroll. "And if the purple ninja is corrupted... they will bring... Ninjago's demise."

Jay shot Zane a slight scowl. "Zane, I think you missed something. Like, oh, I don't know, _WHY IS THE PURPLE NINJA AT A BIGGER RISK OF BEING CORRUPTED!?"_ His voice rose into a shriek at the end, making both Kai and Cole flinch away a little in surprise. His voice could get _really_ loud.

Zane scratched his head, frowning at the page. "I... do not know. The paper is smudged and the symbols are harder to read. I... think I see the symbol for darkness, but that could easily be the symbol for death as well."

The four ninja all looked at each other, the page resting in Zane's hands. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Cole asked, after a moment of pause.

"Uh, you mean how _awesome_ I'm going to look in green?" Jay retaliated with a smug grin.

As the four ninja began to banter competitively but still in a friendly way, preparing to get back on their dragons to fly back to the monastery, they were blissfully unaware of the evil that was about to be released on Ninjago.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that's a good place to stop for now!**

 **So, if you've been following me for a long-enough time, you will probably have noticed that I wrote a fanfiction called A Pure Heart. I never got past the third season, and I've been thinking and rereading it, and my reaction was:**

 **"Oh gosh this is horrible"**

 **So, I've decided to use my newfound writing skills to rewrite the story! I'll be writing every single season in the Ninjago series from my OC Hikari's point of view, and don't worry, she's not a Mary Sue, she's not going to replace Lloyd or anything. If you've read A Pure Heart, you know the basics of what are going to happen, but you should read it anyway because... well, I might just shake things up. (Winks)**

 **Chapters will be at least 3000 words, and never too long. Most chapters will be from Hikari's POV. Please review/comment and feel free to ask questions! I'll do my best to answer the questions in the review replies!**

 **also check out my other fanfictions if you want they're not too good though haha**

 **Welp, that's all for this time! See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	2. Snakes and Pajama People

Lloyd was clinging to Hikari's free hand tightly as they walked through the snow. Even with Hikari bundled up in a coat that was at least three times her size and therefore way too big for her- the fake fur collar almost completely eclipsed her face except for her big gray eyes, and they'd had to roll up the sleeves about twelve times before Hikari could even stick her hands out of the sleeves, and don't get him _started_ on how most of the coat was dragging on the ground- her hand was still like a little block of ice.

At least she wasn't freezing to death.

"Thunks fur fineding mm a cut Liyd," Hikari spoke up, voice heavily muffled by the fake fur lining on the hood and collar that made her look like a discount Eskimo.

"What?" Lloyd shouted back. What with all of the wind howling in their ears, and the fact that Hikari's mouth was covered by the fake fur and muffled, he could barely hear anything except for some indistinct mumbles.

Hikari tugged down the collar of the fur a bit, enough for her mouth to be freed. "I said 'thanks for finding me a coat, Lloyd!'" she called back to him, the howling wind still deadening all the sound in Lloyd's ears. Thankfully, Hikari had been loud enough that he actually heard her this time, and didn't have to ask her to repeat it.

"No problem! What are friends for, right?" he shouted back.

Hikari gave him a cheery grin, despite practically having a blizzard slap her in the face, and opened her mouth to say something-

And then tripped and fell forward with a yelp. Evidently, the large coat also helped make Hikari quite accident-prone. "Ah!" she yelped as she plopped into the snow, sending up a little shower of the white stuff as she toppled to the ground with a metallic _clang_.

Wait, a clang?

"Huh?" Lloyd came forward to where Hikari was now sitting back up, shaking her head furiously and trying to get as much snow as she could out of her face. Now that the boy was squinting, he could see a strange, metallic symbol carved into the ground. Hikari looked down to see what she'd landed on, back up at Lloyd, and then back down.

Without a word, the two children started clearing the snow off of the symbol, trying to reveal more of it. The more they cleared, the more of the symbol was evident, until there was a huge, snake-like symbol emblazoned on what looked like normal ground.

"What's this?" Hikari asked Lloyd, the black-haired girl doing her best to keep all of her hair from blasting all over the place in the wind and staying towards the edges of the area that seemed to be made out of metal. For some reason, the snake-like symbol seemed vaguely familiar to her. Maybe it had been in something she'd read. Lloyd looked up, turning to see Hikari better as she pondered this.

"I don't kn-"

Without any warning, Lloyd's arm smacked into a hidden switch, flipping it with a clunk, and the ground abruptly opened up beneath him. Hikari let out a startled shriek as he screamed as well, toppling through the hole and deeper into the ground, into what... looked to be some sort of ice cave, glimmering and sparkling with snow and ice. To the little girl, it had looked as though the ground had suddenly opened up a mouth and swallowed her friend up.

Lloyd's scream was abruptly stifled when he hit a snowbank within the ice cave. Being careful not to just slip and fall in- the bottom of the cave looked like it was a really really big fall to take- Hikari tiptoed to the edge and peeked in to see Lloyd digging himself out of the snowbank, which was right in the center of the hole they'd just made by accident and not particularly big. Looking up, he spotted Hikari peeping at him from the edge.

"C'mon down, Hikari!" he shouted up to his friend, "I'll catch you!"

Hikari puffed some of her black hair out of her silvery eyes, peering into the hole with quite a few misgivings on her face. "Are you sure?"

"Sure! When have I ever let you down?" Lloyd grinned up at the little girl confidently.

Hikari considered the question. "Well, there was that one time you left me alone in the park by accident..." she mused, thinking it over. "And then was the time I fell down the stairs and you didn't come help me up... and then the time before that when-"

Lloyd couldn't resist wanting to facepalm. "Uh, okay, well- this time I'll catch you, I promise!" and he extended his arms carefully, giving her a confident little beaming smile.

Hikari bit her lip, hesitating... before taking one step back. Two steps back.

Then running forward and leaping in, squeezing her eyes shut so she didn't have to see how high up she was (the little girl was terrified of heights). At the last second, her foot caught the bit of the coat that was dragging onto the ground, and her jump was a little shorter than she'd been intending. For what felt like three hours but was probably only three seconds, Hikari's body felt totally weightless. Her eyes were squeezed shut, wind grabbing at her hair as if trying to slow her fall-

She slammed into a pair of arms that curled around her protectively, Lloyd grunting a little as he seemed to stumble. Cracking one eye open, she could see Lloyd had regained his balance and was now holding her up like a princess, blinking at her with those green-red eyes and a slightly bewildered expression on his face.

A blush crept across her cheeks at being held like a princess, even though it was hard to tell due to the fact that the biting, harsh wind had already turned her cheeks bright pink. "Thanks, Lloyd," she said chirpily, crawling out of his arms and dusting herself off.

"No problem," he replied, before looking around at their surroundings. Now that they could see the rest of the cave, the entire cavern was frozen solid. Glittering, reflective blue and a few slightly greenish ice walls surrounded them, pillars and spikes and platforms filling the huge cave. It was oddly beautiful, and a little spooky, but something was still bothering Hikari beyond the fact that this place felt off- _why was that symbol familiar to her?_

As if her subconscious was seeking comfort, Hikari reached out and took ahold of Lloyd's hand. It was a little clammy from the cold, but the touch that reminded her that she wasn't alone, she had her best friend there with her, definitely helped.

"Where... are we?" Lloyd asked, vocalizing one thought that was running through Hikari's mind.

"Intrudersssssss..."

The menacing, hissing voice abruptly jumpstarted the cogs in Hikari's brain, and she felt an icy chill that had nothing to do with the cold snaking up her spine.

A bit ironic, considering what was racing through her mind right now.

A symbol that resembled a snake. Deep in the mountains where almost nobody would go looking for it. A beautiful but uninhabitable place, seemingly designed more like a tomb than anything else.

A hissing voice.

"Lloyd, I know where we are!" Hikari whispered to Lloyd, trying to keep her voice down and keep herself from trembling. Even though the thick coat was more than enough protection down here where there was no harsh wind or falling snow, icy chills of fear were crawling up her spine.

"What?" The blonde boy turned to look at Hikari, surprise shining in his eyes. Even though he seemed more surprised than frightened "Where?"

"I don't know how we found it, but- but I think this is one of the Serpentine tombs!" Hikari lowered her voice so that she was practically breathing the words, anxiety and fear invading her voice and making her heart flutter faster. She remembered reading about the Serpentine as a child- but they had been listed as legends, scary stories to frighten children! Not real stories!

Lloyd's eyes widened in surprise. "Serpentine...?! Which tomb?!" he whisper-shouted, barely keeping his voice low.

"Children? Hmmm... curioussssss..." Hikari almost jumped at the sound of the hissing voice again, turning to see a huge, anthropormor- anfropomor- anthropomorphic snake slithering towards them, tail flickering as he advanced on the two children. His deep green-blue scales glittered, reflecting light as the ice did almost enchantingly, holding a golden staff that appeared like a cobra. His head was shaped like a giant king cobra, and the white and yellow designs on his scales were eerily beautiful.

But what was both the most entrancing and the most terrifying thing about this giant snake, at least to Hikari, were the two, hypnotic red eyes that answered Lloyd's question.

"Hypnobrai- close your eyes!" Hikari cried out, squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't see Lloyd, but hopefully, he did the same, her hand clinging to his as she desperately tried to back away.

"I control you," the general hissed voice not getting any further as the two children steadily backed away, a rattling sound also sounding.

Hikari's back hit something that gave off a strange chill, and then a slightly damp feeling through her thick coat- ice! Fearfully, Hikari ducked down into a crouch, eyes still pressed shut, hand clinging to Lloyd's and dragging him back down to the floor with her as well, as she waited for the general of the Hypnobrai to descend upon them. She was aware that she felt like a sitting duck, waiting to be devoured by the snake.

Except nothing came.

Tentatively, Hikari opened her eyes and looked up. The general's tail was no longer rattling, and he was staring vaguely at something behind Hikari, his hands having gone slack at his sides.

Confused, Hikari turned to see what he was looking at, spotting a dazed reflection of the general in the glass. The reflective glass must have reflected the Hypnobrai's powerful hypnotic eyes on the general when she and Lloyd had ducked! He'd hypnotized himself!

Hikari barely had enough time for relief to flood through her chest before Lloyd let out a strange chuckle, making her look over at him and have the relief replaced by dismay at the wicked grin on his face, the red in his eyes more obvious than before. "Um... no. _I_ control _you_ now," he asserted.

Lloyd...

"What shall you have us do, master?" the snake asked, in a monotone yet somehow deferential tone of voice.

Hikari swallowed, a lump of fear crowding into her throat. "U... us?" she squeaked.

Slowly, the general's tail began rattling. Dozens of snakes, at least _fifty_ , emerged from the icy walls, from under the icy platforms, from behind the columns of ice. Their green-blue scales were the same shade as their leader's, and with the exception of the fact that none of them had legs except for the general, their scales even had the same hypnotic reflective quality as the ice itself.

Hikari's hand tightened on Lloyd's reflexively, and Lloyd squeezed back. Though, to Hikari's worry, he didn't seem to be doing it to comfort her- more as a reflex to the action she'd just performed.

No, with that almost chilling, mischievous grin on his face, he didn't seem to care about Hikari at all right now.

"My own army of snakes!" he cackled, the cackling turning into full-blown wicked laughter, leaving Hikari frozen perfectly still with fear at the army of snakes surrounding the two children.

Because even with Lloyd controlling the Hypnobrai's general, even with her best friend at her side, she was fairly certain they'd never been in more danger before.

* * *

"I'm _never_ coming down from this sugar high!" Lloyd chattered, throwing his arms into the air jubilantly. "Hikari, you should have some too!"

Hikari shook her head, a little sadly. At least he'd noticed she was still there. After about the tenth sweet he'd just hopped onto an insane sugar buzz. "Sorry, Lloyd. Not really very hungry."

It was true. All of the villagers in Jamanakai Village had been completely hypnotized, and she was surrounded by an ancient race of dangerous anthropomorphic snake people. She didn't really have much of an appetite right now.

Besides, her favorite candy- Swedish Fish- wasn't there. She wasn't really tempted to eat any of it.

She supposed at least Lloyd was having some fun.

A blur of motion, and suddenly the four guys that she'd met earlier that day landed in front of them- Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane, she was pretty sure. It took quite a lot of self-restraint to not yelp and fall off the wheelbarrow that she was sitting next to Lloyd on into the snow or onto the ground. That would've hurt quite a bit.

None of them seemed to be paying her any attention at the moment, however, all eyes focused on Lloyd. Cole's dark brown eyes, already usually looking quite hard, looked more solid than a boulder right now. "Sorry to bust your buzz, little Garmadon," he declared.

Jay finished the sentence for him, electric-blue eyes practically sizzling with electricity. "But it's already past your bedtime!"

Lloyd's eyes darkened, and he pointed a lollipop at them- probably to be dramatic, although Hikari couldn't help smothering a giggle at the use of the lollipop. It looked far too childish to be effectively dramatic. "GET THEM!" he bellowed.

The general, who Hikari had learned, through some slightly nervous conversation with some of the other Hypnobrai- who were surprisingly nice. A couple of them called her Miss Hikari, though they didn't seem to afford Lloyd the same respect despite him controlling their general. Weird- had the name Slithraa, rattled his tail and jabbed his staff in the ninja's direction as well. "SEIZE THEM!" he ordered.

Kai's face, behind the mask, seemed to drain of color. "The Serpentine? They're real?!"

Before Hikari could do anything, many of the hypnotized villagers and all of the Hypnobrai circled the four of them. Hikari had to stifle a cry of anxiety. These guys had been nice, and had pretty much saved her life. If they got hypnotized, too...

"It's not just them we have to worry about," Cole exclaimed, "the whole village has been hypnotized!"

Jay raised a strange weapon- were those golden nunchucks?- and started spinning them in the air, before Zane put his arm in front of Jay and shook his head warningly. "No! Our weapons are too unstable," he told the blue pajama-wearing-man (really, those outfits did look like pajamas. Unless these four were ninjas. If they were ninjas, then Hikari's answer would change). "We could do more harm than good!"

The blue ninja(?) shrugged at that. "Well, I guess that leaves us with RUN!" he shrieked the last word, and abruptly the four of them leaped out of the circle of people and dashed off into the buildings of Jamanakai Village, disappearing from sight in mere seconds.

Hikari glanced over at Lloyd, who still seemed to be preoccupied with his candy. Deciding this could be a good chance to save the villagers, if they were in fact ninjas or heroes, she hopped off the wheelbarrow and darted off into the buildings, hoping that nobody noticed.

When nobody shouted about Hikari being missing, she decided she was probably in the clear- a little sadly, as well, because if Lloyd had called out for her at least she would've known he was still there and looking for her- and broke into a little run, head turning from side to side as she looked for a hint of the ninja.

Raising her eyes, she suddenly spotted a young woman with what seemed to be amber eyes- so she must be Kai's sister- and short black hair leap through the air over the rooftops, down into a nearby alley. Changing her course, Hikari turned the corner, hearing familiar voices start up behind the wall and growing clearer by the minute.

"Nya? You're okay!" Jay sounded very happy about this.

"Barely." This voice Hikari didn't recognize, but because it was female, she was pretty sure it was the girl who was Kai's sister. So her name was Nya. "They've hypnotized everyone in town."

"Mind control..." Jay again, sounding bewildered. "How is this possible?"

"When you hear them rattle their tails," Nya spoke again, suddenly sounding a little like a teacher, "don't look 'em in the eyes. That's how they get you."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Jay whined, sounding frustrated now as his voice grew clearer and clearer, "we can't use our weapons, and now we gotta fight with our eyes closed? Huh. Perfect."

Hikari abruptly burst around the corner, making all four of them jump. Apparently they hadn't heard her coming with all the hushed talking they'd been doing. Up closer, Nya _definitely_ looked like Kai's sister. Oh, their hair color and facial structures weren't the same, but they had the exact same eyes, down to the shape and spacing. Their noses were extremely similar, and the shape of their jaws were reminiscent of each other's.

And with identical startled and slightly worried expressions on their faces, they could've passed as fraternal twins.

"The... the golden staff," she spoke up, trying to remember what she'd learned from the book about Serpentine ages ago at the public library- a word to the wise, public libraries were very nice about letting little kids come in and read without a library card. As long as you didn't cause a disruption or be a general nuisance, they didn't mind letting you sit in there- and some of the Hypnobrai that she'd started a conversation with (one of them was named Skales), "it has... it has an antidote so you can negate the hypnotism. And... Lloyd's eaten a ton of candy by now."

She paused. Despite the fact that she was doing this to help the people of the village, she still couldn't help but feel like she was betraying Lloyd.

 _But that's not how Lloyd usually acts_ , Hikari told herself. Lloyd was always really nice to her- or, at least, he was now- and he cared about her, even if he didn't really like showing it the normal way. He always worried about her, he always tried to be there for her, despite sometimes failing at it, and he was the only person who didn't give up on her. Even her mommy and daddy had disappeared without a word.

But even when Lloyd hadn't been present at that moment, Hikari always knew he'd come back. And he always did.

Even if this made Lloyd unhappy, it was wrong.

And this wasn't the way he usually acted anyways.

"Maybe," Hikari spoke up, tentatively, "maybe if one of you distracts the general, one of you could steal the staff?"

Before she could hear the response to her idea, Hikari turned around and began to walk back to where Lloyd had been, though she ruefully admitted she'd probably get lost. "I didn't tell you that," she called back to them, not turning around to face them, "and I definitely didn't see anybody standing behind this wall."

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, who knew being more detailed gets you longer chapters? xD**

 **Seriously, though, this is insanely long compared to the original- the original was about, I think a thousand words, and was only one chapter. I'm not even done with the first episode yet!**

 **Well, but at least I feel this is better than the original. The original version really sucked xD**

 **Replies to reviews!**

 **Starlog246: No no, I don't mind at all! Honestly, the original version made me cringe when I reread it recently, so I'm glad to hear you think it's better!**

 **Mariah: Not yet, but I'll be sure to have a look at it.**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	3. Rise of the Snakes

Nya shook her head with an amused smile as the absolutely _tiny_ girl retreated out of sight around the corner. "Smart kid," she remarked mildly, before turning back to the ninjas... ninja... whichever it was, her face becoming utterly serious. "Okay, I think her plan is actually the one that has the highest likelihood of success... so who's going to distract the general, and who's going to steal the staff?"

There was a short pause as the ninja pondered this, before Cole raised his hand a little bit, almost like a schoolkid. "I can steal the staff," he offered.

Kai added, "And I can definitely distract the general."

"I'll handle Lloyd," Zane chimed in instantly, icy blue eyes gleaming with a sort of muted determination.

Jay let out a slightly complaining groan. "That leaves me with distracting the _other_ Hypnobrai..."

Kai spoke up now, making the others look at him. His amber eyes were already strikingly fiery, but now tiny orbs of flame were practically dancing in his eyes with how determined he looked. "Look, guys. Let's forget about the whole Green Ninja thing. Let's make Sensei proud. The four of us... we're a team."

Cole grinned, although it was hidden behind the mask. " _Now_ you're talking," he agreed instantly.

The blue ninja gave Nya a slightly love-stricken grin as he looked over at her. "Oh, and Nya, you can be our honorary member."

The red ninja's sister scowled at him slightly, although he didn't seem to notice. "Gee, _thanks_ ," she said sarcastically, but the ninja were already leaping onto the roofs and running for the city center. Kai reached the center first as he leaped down.

"You wanna play?" he taunted two of the Hypnobrai that were approaching, "how about a little Spinjitzu? Ninjaaa-GO!" He immediately spun into a fiery, sparking tornado, mere yards from where Hikari and Lloyd were standing.

Hikari gasped in surprise- the sudden heat and flurry of sparks was VERY impressive to a small seven-year-old like her, not to mention the tornado shape! She hadn't known there was a way of fighting like that!

Abruptly, the red ninja lost control of the tornado, letting out a little "Woooaaah!" before running smack into a wall and falling to the ground, looking quite dizzy.

Jay slapped a hand to his forehead. "Okay, we're _really_ out of shape."

Lloyd seemed to think this was a good time to retreat, and started shoving the wheelbarrow of candy along as he fled. Hikari only hesitated a moment, watching Kai lie on the ground and moan about how dizzy he was, before hurrying after her friend. He let out a slightly crazy, hysterical laugh. "Consider this a warning, ninja!"

"Ninjaaa-GO!" A pair of shurikens flew through the air at Zane's shout, soaring harmlessly over the two children's heads.

"Ha! You missed!" Lloyd taunted the ice ninja.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize that Zane hadn't been _aiming_ for him or Hikari.

The shurikens hit the ground in front of the cart, creating a miniature iceberg. Lloyd, who was looking over his shoulder at Zane, didn't realize it was there until the wheelbarrow slammed into the ice wall and catapulted him forward, knocking all of the candy out in a heap on the ground. Hikari winced and ran over, helping her friend up as he let out a cry about the candy.

A moment later, a tornado much like Kai's spun over to them, except this one was pure white tinged with a frosty blue, sending out snowflakes and ice crystals spitting out as he skidded to a halt in front of Lloyd and Hikari.

Hikari automatically shrank back- Zane had looked kindly at her when she'd first met him. But the cold, stern look on his face that he was now regarding Lloyd with sent chills up her spine in fear. She'd never expected that someone who could look so tender and gentle could also look so icy and foreboding. "Sensei was right," he spoke to Lloyd in a stern voice, "'Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today.' We should've dealt with you properly the _first_ time around."

Lloyd stammered momentarily, before screaming, "RETREAT!"

The general, hearing Lloyd's cry, ordered in a hissing roar, "RETREAT!"

Immediately, the Serpentine began to flee, the general among them- before he was stopped by the black ninja. Cole delivered several swift kicks to the snake general's chest, making him drop the staff in shock. Slithraa looked up at Cole, bewildered.

Cole smirked, although you could really only see his eyes. "Go ahead. Give me a reason."

Slithra proceeded to slither away in fear. Cole picked up the staff rapidly... and straightened up to stare straight into a Hypnobrai's eyes.

Hikari recognized this one- he was the one snake who didn't seem to be following Slithraa's orders without questioning them. She was pretty sure his name was Skales.

Skales stared straight into Cole's eyes, a rattling noise starting despite the fact that he had no tail. "Look into my eyesssssss," Skales hissed, his eyes beginning to emit the hypnotic gaze that the Hypnobrai were named for, and even though his hissing voice was harsh, it was oddly calming. Hikari almost felt tempted to run over and stare into his eyes herself- which jolted her out of the slightly hypnotized stupor she'd started drifting into; the very idea was horrifying. "I control you..."

Cole, unfortunately, was not standing off to the side watching this like Hikari was, but getting the full blast of Skales's eyes and voice, and his eyes glazed over. To Hikari's horror, his irises went from that dark-and-nearly-black brown to a swirling red- he'd been hypnotized! "You... control..." he murmured, his arms falling to his sides defenselessly.

Hikari glanced over at Lloyd, who seemed to be in the middle of his sugar high and not paying her any attention.

This was enough to allow her to do something daring. Trying to keep her movements as subtle and careful as possible so that Skales or another Hypnobrai didn't catch sight of what she was doing, she scooped up a smooth, round stone. She didn't have very good aim, and her throwing arm wasn't very strong, but she had to do _something!_

Bolstered by this, Hikari let the stone fly.

In a stroke of sheer luck, the small but still heavy stone struck Skales on the nose, making him flinch violently and grab at his face with a hissing screech of pain. Cole, still seeming to be hypnotized, started to walk away.

"Cole!" Nya yelled at him, "you have the staff!"

Hikari was _so_ relieved to see the black ninja shake his head furiously to clear it, looking at the beautiful, golden staff in slight surprise. "By golly, you're right!"

"Quick, put it in the fountain! I heard that the anti-venom reacts like heat with water!" Nya instructed him, making Cole nod at her and sprint for the fountain, easily dodging the hypnotized villager's attempts at grabbing him.

"Good idea!" His feet splashing into the fountain as he clambered in, Cole lifted the staff above his head before slamming the end of it into the water.

Immediately, the blue crystal holding the antivenom splashed said antivenom into the fountain, which had little canals of water running throughout the streets- probably it was like some sort of water system. The antivenom reacted instantly with the water, sending up steam clouds that smelled oddly like blue raspberry candy. One of the steam clouds floated right into Hikari's face and instantly made her start coughing, eyes starting to water a little.

It might smell like blue raspberry, but it also made her eyes and nose and throat prickle a little bit.

Waving the cloud away, Hikari raced after Lloyd, tagging along only feet behind him as the blonde son of Lord Garmadon fled.

From not too far away, Sensei Wu watched them run. "... hm," he said at last.

"We're sorry, Sensei," and the old man turned to see the fire ninja pulling his hood off, spiky red hair not even squashed from its time under the hood, amber eyes downcast with shame, "if we dealt with Lloyd _before_ he became a problem, none of this would've been necessary."

"Even lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned," Sensei instructed him, before pausing and frowning, gold eyes crinkling up anxiously as he considered what had just happened. "Hmm... a great evil has been released. I fear troubling times will come. This is only the beginning."

Zane spoke up almost instantly, his icy blue eyes shining in his almost _white_ skin like ice chips stuck in snow. "Then we will train, and be ready for the Serpentine."

Cole nodded in agreement. "It may not be Lord Garmadon," and he proceeded to square his shoulders solidly, gaze hardening as a determined grin spread over his face, "but that doesn't mean we won't bring our A-game."

"Help us train," Kai agreed, the fire kindling back to life in his eyes. "Help us realize our potential."

"Yeah," the ninja of lightning agreed, electricity practically dancing through his eyes in determination, "teach us the secrets behind the weapons of Spinjitzu."

Sensei Wu's eyebrow raised slightly at the change in attitude from the ninja, before giving them a nod, a small smile coming over his face. "There is much to teach. We must return to the monastery."

The four ninjas immediately started heading back towards their dragons, talking loudly. Nya allowed herself a sigh, amber eyes dulling with slight impatience. "When am _I_ gonna get my own dragon?" she wondered quietly, softly enough so that the ninja couldn't hear her.

Sensei Wu patted the girl on the shoulder. "Patience, Nya. Your time will come." He paused, eyes slowly travelling to where Hikari had been running after Lloyd. "And I suspect your time isn't the only one that is coming."

* * *

"Candy... ugh... I need... candy!" Lloyd moaned, pleading to a wall. Unfortunately for Lloyd, his huge sugar high had finally receded, leaving the once-hyper boy desperate for more sugar. Hikari patted her friend on the shoulder.

"Cheer up, Lloyd!" she told him, cheerfully, glad to see he was at least aware of her presence again. "At least we're all okay."

She was surprised to see that she was including the Serpentine in the 'we'.

They were surprisingly nice to her, and treated her with a lot of courtesy. One of them had even offered to bring her some food, but she'd declined. With all the adrenaline and fear still rushing through her bloodstream, she didn't feel hungry at all.

Lloyd looked up from where he was practically begging for candy, green-and-red eyes slightly dull and unfocused- he was still focused on the need for sugar. "Need... candy..." he practically begged her, clearly not focusing on her at all right now.

Hikari smiled at him slightly sadly, before giving his arm a pat. She would've hugged him, but the son of Lord Garmadon was strictly against her hugs and asked her only to do them when they were in private. And she didn't think in front of a lot of snake people was very private. True, he couldn't focus on her right now, but she wasn't going to take advantage of his being disoriented to hug him in public.

Or, well, not in _public_ exactly, but in front of other people at least.

"I'm going to go walk around," she told him gently. "I'll be back in a bit."

His hands were clutching desperately at her sleeve, green-and-red eyes staring plaintively at her. She gave him another sad little smile and disengaged his hands from her sleeve. "Be right back," she told him, in a light voice, before moving off to go walk around the tomb. Cold and admittedly creepy as it was, the reflective ice was really beautiful, and it WAS the first time a human had ever been in a Serpentine tomb. She was curious to see what it was like.

She'd only gone three paces when she felt his hands grab her sleeve again. Hikari turned to see him staring pleadingly at her, but not really seeing her from how focused he was on the need for sugar. She gave him a gentle smile and patiently disengaged his hands from her sleeve again. "I promise, Lloyd- one quick walk around and I'll be right back."

 _Why are you even bothering? He doesn't care about you right now. If he's more focused on sugar than you, his oldest friend, then what makes you think he ever cared about you?_

Hikari blinked at the dark voice at the back of her head, the dark thought crossing her mind.

That was a little weird.

Shaking it off- of _course_ Lloyd cared about her, he was just so excited about the snakes. And he _did_ love candy a lot- she gave Lloyd a comforting smile and began walking off again.

This time, something must've penetrated his sugar daze, because he didn't try to follow her.

Unbeknownst to Hikari, as she weaved through the tomb and explored and occasionally stopped to talk to the snakes, the general and his second in command were arguing fiercely.

"The children set us free," Slithraa whispered to Skales.

"They are _children!_ " Skales protested in a fierce hiss, "they are not one of us!"

Slithraa's expression darkened (although it was hard to tell since his face did not... really show facial expressions very well), and he spat at his second in command, "I may not have the staff, but I am _still_ your General! Stand down!"

Skales scowled at him, moving away from him- before running straight into one of his brethren. "You coward," the snake hissed. "We all know he is under Lloyd's spell. We do not mind the girl- she tends to us and treats us as equals- but the general being controlled is another thing, and we cannot allow it!"

"I know," and a snakey smirk came over Skales's face. "That is why I controlled one of the ninja."

The snake stepped back, surprised by this declaration. "Doess the general know?"

"No, of course not. I did nothing this time, because now is not the time. I still hold the key to destroy the ninja. And when I do that," the second in command's fangs were showing in wicked pleasure, "everyone will see it is _I_ who should be in control."

He began to laugh maniacally, blinking his eyes so that their shade was a dark brown, almost black.

On nearly the other side of Ninjago, Cole's eyes glazed over, turning a swirling red as he stared straight ahead, before blinking again and dissipating the strange color from his eyes, unaware of the danger he would soon unwillingly bring upon his friends.

* * *

 **A/N: Surprisingly, that worked out really well! I thought I was going to have to do a lot of editing to get the words up to the limit that I wanted, but I didn't have to!**

 **I hope that the next episode goes as smoothly, though I highly doubt it.**

 **Episode 1 is finished!**

 **Mariah: (shrugs) / That part of the story isn't changing- since Lloyd doesn't get away in the original/series, I usually try not to deviate from that part of the story as much. Adding an OC is already big enough of a change.**

 **katarinadjordjevic555: Haha, I'm glad you're excited! I'm hoping the rewrite turns out better than the original- the original is kind of bad, haha.**

 **CrystalSong11: Yay!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


	4. Seeing Things

Hikari didn't like heights.

Mind you, she could _handle_ them, it wasn't like being on a tall building at the very top would make her faint, but when there were no barriers _around_ her to keep her from falling (like windows), that's when she got really antsy.

And mind you, she liked treehouses. She remembered back when she was _really_ little (before the huge... fuzzy wall of memories that wouldn't clear, no matter how insistently she squeezed her eyes shut and thought and pushed it), she'd had a mini-treehouse that she would peek out of the tiny window of and giggle nonstop while her dad would attempt to pull her out, roaring and pretending to be a huge Serpentine.

But for the _love_ of the First Spinjitzu Master, that didn't mean she wanted to live in a treehouse with branches for railings and _vines_ supporting it.

Okay, yes, it was cool. And maybe if it was closer to the ground or more spread out horizontally, Hikari wouldn't have felt her heart jump into her tiny throat every time the floor shifted an inch beneath her feet, but she couldn't stop imagining plummeting from the treehouse and breaking her neck.

And let me tell you now, most seven-year-olds don't _like_ that mental image.

Plus a lot of the Hypnobrai had ended up falling off the treehouse by now, or banging a thumb with a hammer, or (in one _very_ weird case) _nailing the General's tail to a floorboard by accident_ , and Hikari was very quickly becoming the go-to nurse for them all.

Interestingly enough, she liked cooking (she had good memories of her mommy teaching her while she peeked over the counter on her tiptoes from her stool and cracked eggs or stirred things... and then her dad coming in and throwing flour at her mother), and she was okay at patching people up, which was great, considering most seven year olds didn't care about that stuff and Lloyd had once joked that he'd marry her when they grew up just so she could cook for him (she'd walloped him with a pillow and the two of them had giggled madly for ten minutes straight), but she wasn't really sure how to care for a snake (or if she was even doing it remotely properly), and she'd spent the past week constantly fretting about if she was making them worse.

Go figure. She could cook and help people out, but the second it came to snakes, spiders, heights, or fighting or violence in any capacity, she became as useful as a rag doll. Wonderful.

Yep. It was official. She could only do household things. Maybe she could be a professional maid when she got big or something. There were worse jobs, right?

In any case, she'd become the resident 'doctor' at the treehouse, so it had become a habit for the Hypnobrai, the second they had an injury, to sneak off from work and find her so she could patch them up.

(She apologized nonstop and made sure they knew she wasn't sure if she was doing it right, but interestingly enough the snakes didn't seem to mind and actually tried to reassure her that she was doing okay.)

"Ummm, Missssss Hikari?"

She jumped from where she was lost in thought on the railing and turned to see a Hypnobrai sheepishly lifting a hand with a rather large cut on it.

"Oh no! How'd you get– never mind," she amended the statement. After the first three Hypnobrai had regaled her with some rather gory stories about how they'd received what looked like somewhat minor injuries, she'd decided she wouldn't ask unless they told her. "Well, come here... I think I have some bandages left!"

She gave the Hypnobrai a pleasant smile as the large snake walked over, extending a scaly hand so that she could begin wrapping the wound with what little bandages she'd had left. One of the Hypnobrai had... _acquired_ a first aid kit (Hikari was about ninety percent sure they'd stolen it, but she'd stopped complaining once the Hypnobrai had started flooding in with injuries) somewhere. It was running low though.

She hoped none of them would take that as their cue to go steal another first-aid kit.

Besides the stealing... and the whole being giant snakes thing... they actually weren't _that_ bad. Rather polite to her (though she _did_ notice they treated Lloyd with a much more chilly courtesy).

She turned to get some rubbing alcohol to clean the wound and paused.

There was a small smudge on the ground nearby– small, and white. Was it snow? No– now that Hikari looked a little closer, it was a young man. His white-blonde hair stood up straight, pale skin almost glowing in the twilight. She would've been willing to bet that if she could see his eyes, they would be a chilling blue.

Zane... that was his name, right? Yes, the white ninja was Zane, and the red one was Kai, blue was Jay (like the bird) and Cole was the ninja in the black uniform (like the stuff kids got in their stockings if they were bad at Christmas). One of the ninja was here?

Hikari tried not to let her brow furrow too much. How had he found this place? Why was he alone?

"Missss Hikari? Isssss sssssomething wrong?"

She abruptly realized she'd been staring off into the treeline somewhat intently, and that the Hypnobrai she was treating was turning to look.

"Oh! No, I thought I... saw a bird," she fibbed, apologetically smiling and returning to the treatment. "I'm sorry to have frozen up... I really like birds."

"Oh, it'sssss understandable," the Hypnobrai waved her off, the frown on its face clearing up to be almost pleasant. "I haven'tttt sssseen birdssss up here for a long tttime."

Hikari blinked.

Right, imprisoned underground in the Serpentine tombs.

"Oh...! Yeah, I'm sorry. I would've pointed it out if I knew you wanted to see the bird too," Hikari apologized (and half-lied). "I'll try to let you know if I spot one next time."

The Hypnobrai's serpentine mouth widened into a grin. Not a malicious one, though– it seemed to be a genuine smile. "Really? Thankssss..."

"Of course!" Hikari finished wrapping the wound, chancing another glance in the direction Zane had been.

The white smudge was gone.

Had she just been imagining it? No, she'd been able to make out details... but maybe that was just her imagination kicking in.

She waved off the grateful Hypnobrai with a cheery goodbye and returned to staring out at the forest, eyes itching for wanting to sleep.

Back to waiting for Lloyd to notice her again.

* * *

 **A/N: Today on How Not to Update Consistently™, we update A Pure Heart's rewrite. Finally.**

 **For those of you in the Ninjago fandom, I've been working on a story called October Children in the Minecraft: Story Mode fandom. Unfortunately, due to listening to the Wicked Whip from the new season and having absolutely _no_ idea what any context about it is but still enjoying it, this means that my update schedule will now be October Children, then A Pure Heart, and continue to alternate between them.**

 **I will _try_ (note: try) to update every Monday from now on, but if I go missing again.. yes, I'm alive. I'm just working on other things.**

 **Note: I am _very_ behind in the Ninjago fandom. So once we catch up to the end of Season 6, updates for this will slow dramatically, as beyond the movie, I have literally no idea what's going on in the world of Ninjago anymore.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Responses to reviews!**

 **Mariah: Hi, sorry for the long wait! She'll still get away since the entire reason she got her powers was partially determination to save Lloyd and... well, all of the Ninja finding their true potential, so it wouldn't make sense for her to get locked up. xD Sorry that you had to wait a while for the answer! Truthfully, even if things did change, I wouldn't spoil it– since all of this is staying the same (so far) it's easy for me to not spoil anything.**

 **GreenD109: I'm glad you like it! Sorry again for such a long wait; I'm definitely looking forward to getting back into this story.**

 **fernandamichelleraya: I liked that a lot more too. xD**

 **Guest: I have finally updated, if you still are here xD**

 **The-Aroace-Queen-in-the-Quiver: Yeah... I'm worried there's a discrepancy between this chapter and the previous ones, but oh well. Too late to stop now xD**

 **Guest: Updated!**

 **Ayame: I've finally updated! Sorry for the long wait; but I'm glad you liked it!**

 **.aulia: You could always read the old version, but here's the new version's update! xP**

 **Your reader: I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I'm sorry it took me so long to come out with the next chapter; I'm not too active in the Ninjago fandom anymore.**

 **AlchemyWriter: I actually kind of fell out of the Ninjago fandom, but I've decided to come back and write up until I think the story's at a good finishing point– since if Ninjago continues too much longer (like past a Season 12) I think wrapping it up will be a lot more difficult. If we hit Season 12 (which is sooner than we think, probably), I'm wrapping up the story for good there, most likely.**

 **Lily: I have updated!**

 **lil: Here you go!**

 **Once again, I'm really sorry about the late update. See ya, so long, and g'bye!**

 **x.X. A.L. X.x**


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